Grey Clouds
by Aelingil
Summary: The clouds had always covered the sky. Why should Natsuki have a cloudless sky above her? Why does God love her more? AU ShizNat
1. Chapter 1

Grey Clouds - Chapter 1

Shizuru had a habit. It wasn't a fabulous, illustrious habit that made her appear refined or graceful. In fact, she avoided indulging in her habit in front of other people.

Shizuru had a watch – a delicate wrist watch that fit seamlessly on her fine wrist. She wore it often with suits and occasionally with casual wear. She never wore it with her kimonos. Recently, however, she had been wearing more suits. Thus, this wrist watch had become a staple of her morning routine. And it was quite a routine.

First, she would stretch a little in bed before brushing her teeth in her en suite bathroom, taking a quick shower, brushing and drying her hair, putting on her clothes and, finally, having a bite to eat before heading out the door. She was never late. She was never too early.

Perfectly on time, Shizuru practically glided out those doors and into her family's car, which took her to wherever she needed to be on those same, smiling days. The wrist watch had been an addition to this routine because it refused to run on time. The watch always ran too fast and had to be reminded at the beginning of each day that the time was in fact 6:30 and not 6:34. Shizuru reset this wrist watch between eating and leaving the house. She also made sure that she wound the watch so it would not be too slow during the day.

Shizuru had a habit. To be honest, Shizuru had many habits but they were not considered unnecessary habits. This one was an unnecessary habit. Shizuru had a watch – a delicate wrist watch that didn't tell the time correctly. Her habit was to wind that wrist watch. She would wind it up whenever she began to get stressed or upset or feel uncomfortable or worry.

Shizuru's wrist watch could only wind so far and then it would spring back a little. She would wind the dial at the right side of the watch until it would stop and then listen to it spring back. The sounds of the spin-stop-spring-spin-stop-spring would calm her nerves. Or at least that is how she justified this unnecessary habit to herself.

Her father had once noticed it a few months ago and had proposed to have it replaced after Shizuru mentioned her frustration at it not running on time. Shizuru had declined his kind offer with a cold smile and changed the topic casually. She stopped resorting to her habit in public and only played with the watch when she was alone and could reflect on the day. She wasn't sure where her attachment for the watch came from but maybe it sort of reminded her of someone. She wasn't sure why and she didn't intend to spend all day meditating on why an inanimate object contained the traits of a stranger, especially when she had frequently resolved to not think too much of the subject.

So that was why, right now, Shizuru was sitting on a park bench in the middle of winter, bundled up in many layers of coats and scarves, indulging in her habit, and waiting for the blue haired beauty.

Technically, she was supposed to be walking the rest of the way to the University campus. Her father had insisted that she remain at one of the family's smaller houses near Tokyo University rather than stay in the dorms.

"You'll have more chances to entertain some of my associates that way," he had said, "How else do you expect to make connections trapped within the University?"

Entertaining people had been her job ever since high school. As soon as she looked old enough and acted well enough, her father would simply send people to her and she would feed them, entertain them, and indulge in whatever flattery was needed for them to agree with the merger, or the job cuts, or whatever else was plaguing the company.

As well as staying at the closest estate to the college, she was also driven to school by her regular chauffer, fed by a cook, and cleaned up after by 2 maids. She would have preferred to stay in the dorms or ride a bus to school but there was no need to argue with her father over something so trivial so she accepted his offer and hospitality humbly.

She should have been on her way to classes right now, in fact, driven by her chauffer. But last week, in this exact spot she had caught sight of something unusual.

The sky in this world had always been covered with a thick layer of grey cloud for as long as she could remember. It was true, at one point, the sky had been visible, but God and mankind had managed to cover up that blessed blue.

Most people blamed God.

Blamed isn't the right word. Most people _knew_ it was God's desire that the world be covered in cloud. That might have seemed like a rather narrow minded assumption except…

Well there were places that weren't still covered in cloud, where people could congregate to see the sky. (And they did congregate.)

Churches.

It might have been strange to people who first saw the clouds cover the world but to those, like Shizuru, who had been born into this world, overwhelming evidence of God prevented any other argument. There was no way to explain it. The controversy that did occur was over why. Why did God cover the world in clouds? What were we being punished for?

Shizuru was one of the few who didn't care. But that was going to change. Maybe it already had, the brown haired girl thought to herself, maybe it had all changed the day that I saw her.

She had been walking alone. Facing straight ahead, she walked confidently but without smiling. It was more like she was determined, rather than confident, like she was going somewhere important and all of the other high school students had nothing to do with it. But, although her strange mood was intriguing, that wasn't what was odd about the encounter.

Shizuru had to roll down the window to make sure that she wasn't mistaken. Sure enough, she had been correct. That girl had sunlight dancing in her hair. Shizuru looked up.

There was an opening above this girl. There was sky.

The car had driven away then, with only a chance for Shizuru to look back into the face of this unusual girl. She was mesmerized. On the verge between pretending she hadn't seen her and jumping out of the car while it was still moving, Shizuru promised herself that she would see this girl again.

And that is why, today, Shizuru had explained to the driver, when they were five minutes from school, that she was in need of some fresh air and decided to walk. And that is why, today, Shizuru was sitting on a cold bench, wrapped in scarves, indulging in her habit.

And that is why Shizuru got to see Natsuki again.


	2. Chapter 2

Later that day Shizuru would remember distinctly the fearsome look on the blue-haired girl's face when she was confronted by Shizuru's watching eyes. It was probably this original irritation that lead her to such a rash reaction to the minister's ministrations.

In her mind, Shizuru had been watching with an unobtrusive interest, however, her subject had clearly picked up on this voyeurism. She had stopped after glancing in Shizuru's direction, which had caused several people to glance at her. That was one thing that Shizuru had noticed: people were sensitive to this girl's movements. It was as though half of their mind was focused on her. Whether this was because of her beauty or the blue sky above her, she couldn't yet say.

But people continued walking without this beautiful girl and soon the street was nearly empty. Still the girl stood there and still Shizuru watched her carefully. With the hordes of other school children gone it was painfully clear that the sun shone on this girl alone. If she were anyone else, Shizuru might have been disconcerted by the intensity with which this glorious angel was staring at her. For that was what she had become to her – an angel.

It had been at least 3 minutes of this staring contest without either flinching or trying to cover her glance before anything happened. When it did, it happened in the blink of an eye. The girl squared off to Shizuru, who was sitting on bench across the street, and walked towards her. Shizuru still sat silently – unconcerned with this development. She was, perhaps, a little excited to see what would happen.

As she was about to cross the road, a young clergy man in full gown called out to her. Shizuru's previously calm exterior allowed her interest to show through when this angelic girl whipped her head around in disgust and shouted.

"Leave me alone!"

It wasn't a shout, Shizuru thought in retrospect, it was a scream. A blood curdling scream that caused a few people to stare at her in astonishment. Although she was taken aback, Shizuru wasn't about to go so far as to be astonished. She did, however, see her opportunity.

The man had been taken aback as well but something stopped him from leaving.

"I need to speak with you," he stammered from afar, "If you would only listen to what we're suggesting…"

"I said NO!"

Most people were moving away now, either because they had something better to do or out of the awkwardness of the situation.

Shizuru walked right into that awkwardness.

She hadn't expected this illuminated angel to have such a vicious temper but found that she was almost… pleasantly surprised. Who knows what unholy storm she was about to unleash on Shizuru that was redirected towards this poor boy, but Shizuru wasn't about to let that go to waste.

"Excuse me, sir," she said politely, "but would you please stop bothering this young woman?"

The clergyman seemed sincerely taken aback by this thoughtful interjection but no more so than the "young woman" at hand.

"Uhhh…" The young man stalled. What was he supposed to say? Luckily, the girl decided to stop him before he had to say much more.

"I said no," she continued forcefully, seeming to have recovered from her shock, "and I meant it."

She turned to leave.

Shizuru hadn't expected that.

"Wa..wait…!" The man had recovered also and was still pursuing her. "Natsuki!"

Natsuki.

So that was the girl's name?

But she had left. And they were plunged into darkness once more.

Shizuru thought had thought that name silently to herself for the past few hours and now, after finishing classes and being driven home, she was still thinking about it. Natsuki. It reminded her of the summer, which in this day and age was a horrible humid affair. However, after seeing that precious sun for those few moments on today's rather cold morning, the summer held a kind of secretive promise.

Sure, they had seen video clips from before all of the clouds collected but few people thought much of it. If they cared enough they went to church. Well…most people did go to church these days. Shizuru might not have cared much for the prospect but it was impossible to refute the evidence of God's existence. Few people tried anymore. There were studies every once in a while that caused commotion but scientists were unusually silent about the subject.

Natsuki.

No. It didn't remind her of the sweltering wet summers that the world had. It reminded her…of a picture she had once seen. Of a sunflower. Though those were rare, what with there being no sun available. Rumor had it that there were churches in Southern Italy that grew the flower to unnatural heights but one would have to make a grueling pilgrimage to get there.

Pilgrimage.

Shizuru decided she would return to that spot tomorrow.

She was sure that the girl would confront her in she returned. This was perfect because Shizuru honestly didn't know how to approach her. She had a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with always being approached that made her unapproachable. The irony made her giggle a little, which caused one of the housekeepers who were serving tea to give her an odd look.

"Sorry," she mumbled good-naturedly so as not to leave the poor woman confused. "Just thinking about something I saw today."

The woman smiled and bowed before leaving the room to Shizuru.

Shizuru picked up the tea and sat back in her chair. She caught herself before she went off on another tangent about the poor clergyman who had got caught up in Shizuru's own desire to speak to the girl. She really shouldn't think so much about someone before they had even been introduced properly. And with that last thought she put the thoughts of Natsuki aside to concentrate on other more pressing matters.

That girl.

Shizuru didn't think, either, on the matter of why she was drenched in sunlight. With a face like an angel, she didn't think she needed an explanation.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Takeda slunk sullenly back into the rectory, removing his shoes at the entrance and not quite bothering to announce his entry. He and the Rector had been on good terms for a while now. If he was feeling full of himself he might have even said that he was the Rector's favorite. Today, however, he was feeling far less conceited.

_I failed again, _he thought grimly.

He had been trying to get _her_ to join them again. It was a pet project of the Rector and he, Takeda, was put in charge…sometimes. To be honest, he had ulterior motives to his work with Natsuki. One look at the girl and everyone else in the church could see what he saw in her. What the Rector wanted from her, however, was perhaps a little purer than that.

With an angel like her as a part of the church, they would be famous. The church would be known throughout the country and would receive more funding than one could imagine. They would have enough money to rebuild the church, give to charity, and line the Rector's pocket as well.

Okay, so it was only a little purer than Takeda's obvious lust.

But time and time again, Natsuki would barely look his way. It was grating on his nerves.

_I don't understand_.

He was beginning to find himself annoyed, honestly. He was a teenage boy with limited patience. Despite what the wise Rector taught him about self-restraint and desire, he was still just a young man.

She was so arrogant.

If he were to be illuminated by God, he would show his gratitude. But she seemed determined to have as little as possible to do with His work. She had once been convinced to sit down with the Rector and talk but that had ended in shouting and she had left.

"No good?" asked a kind voice. Takeda turned to see the Rector. The look on Takeda's face told the man what he needed to know. "I'm not terribly surprised, you know. She's one tough cookie."

For some reason the Rector said this with more amusement than disappointment. Takeda looked at the floor in shame. The Rector ignored this and walked over to the window. It had begun to rain again, as it was wont to do, and the dreary sight only worsened Takeda's mood.

"Uh...Sir," he said hesitantly, remembering something else. "There was something else that happened."

The Rector smiled at the rain coming down and nodded slowly, signaling Takeda to continue. The young man wasn't sure what exactly he was going to say about the X factor in his most recent talk with Natsuki.

"I was…interrupted by a girl. She…didn't seem to know Kuga-san and well…" Takeda didn't know what else to say. Something had just made him feel as though he were an outsider as soon as she stepped into the conversation. And it wasn't just the way that she had asked him to leave Natsuki alone either.

To his surprise, the Rector was strangely interested in what he said. He had turned sharply and was staring intently at Takeda.

"Was it important?" he ventured hesitantly.

"Perhaps," the Rector replied, "Next time…"

The Rector stopped there as if unsure and left the room. Takeda was still for a few minutes before leaving the rectory and heading home. Something still weighed heavily on his mind.

A/N: I am terribly sorry for the poor quality and brevity of this chapter. I needed to take a break from Shizuru's point of view but Takeda is…well…boring. He's really just a piece of plot and there wasn't much I felt like doing with him. I just needed to get this chapter done with. So it's a disgusting 566 words….

Anyway, as another note, I have some background information about the origin of this story as it relates to the Book of Revelations, which I think I'll put in the first chapter, so look out for any changes in the next few days. Thank you for your support! Please feel free to comment and look for a 4th chapter by…the end of Spring break? Hopefully…


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